17 WHITE 3. LITHUANIA’S INTERNATIONAL DEFENCE POLICY 3.1. The strengthening of NATOs collective defence and deterrence NATO’s fundamental purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. In order to achieve this, the Alliance is fulfilling three core tasks – collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security. The foundation of the Alliance and its raison d’etre is Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty which states, that an armed attack against one or several NATO members in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. The strengthening of NATOs crisis management capabilities and cooperation with partners complements the collective defence dimension. All three core tasks provide the basis for the 360 degree security concept, expressing solidarity while reacting to the threats coming from the East and the South. NATO, as a collective defence Alliance, focuses on credible deterrence, which is based on the appropriate mix of conventional, nuclear and missile defence capabilities. At the 2014 Wales and 2016 Warsaw Summits, the decisions to strengthen deterrence and defence in the Eastern flank of the Alliance were taken and guidelines for the long-term NATO adaptation to the changing security environment were agreed upon. These moves implement the long-term goal of Lithuania – to reinforce NATO security guarantees with practical political and military measures. In this context, Lithuania has three main priorities in the strengthening of NATO collective defence and deterrence: 1. NATO military presence in the region NATO military presence and visibility in the region is the most effective way to demonstrate the solidarity of the Allies and ensure a credible deterrence. Lithuania’s goal is the substantial longterm deployment of NATO forces in the Baltic countries and Poland. Since 2014, rotational forces E S TO NI A 2018 L AT V I A L I T H UANI A 2018 Lead Nation Contributing Nation POLA N D NATO Enhanced Forward Presence in Baltic region PA P E R